Sunday 3. Advent: candles and kora music

The Eucharist service on 12 December, the third Sunday in Advent, had a special flavour.  At the beginning of the service the third candle of the Advent wreath was lit by children from Sunday School, who also said a prayer.

During the service  Br. François from the Franciscan community in Strasbourg introduced a new musical dimension to our worship.  He is from Togo, a student of theology and an accomplished musician who plays the kora, a stringed instrument made from a gourd and a traditional instrument in western Africa. He accompanied us musically during intercessions and at other moments in the service.

 

 

Advent Concert a success

Many many thanks for all the hands that came together to make last Sunday’s Concert and mini Christmas market a rousing success.  All proceeds will go to famine relief efforts in south Madagascar.

Ni le froid, ni l’épidémie grandissante ne vous ont tous freiné pour assister joyeusement au magnifique concert de l’Avent dimanche dernier.

Au nom du peuple du Sud en dénuement total et qui a faim, nous Malagasy de St Alban’s vous remercions chaleureusement de la générosité que vous avez manifestée. Que ce soit en amont,  les préparatifs,  que ce soit les prises de paroles, que ce soit dans la confection des gâteaux et spécialités culinaires salés qui étaient bien appréciés, la gestion des recettes, le rangement d’après et surtout votre présence, vous étiez formidables! Merci infiniment pour tous les dons recueillis!

Que notre Seigneur vous rende au centuple et vous garde dans son amour. Bravo!                               Voahangy Ramananjatovo.

The Orchestre des jeunes Guitarristes et Mandolinistes de Schiltigheim played to an enthusiastic audience on Advent Sunday at St. Mathieu in Strasbourg.

Advent Concert 28 November “Contre le kéré”

For the second time ACAS, the Association caritative anglicane de Strasbourg, is organising an Advent concert together with the Madagascan community in the area.  A number of Malgaches are gifted musicians and play together in the Orchestre des Jeunes Guitaristes et Mandolinistes de Schiltigheim under their conductor Marine Mairet.  What may sound like an ensemble with rather limited appeal is in fact quite the opposite: two years ago the orchestra gave their first Advent concert to a packed hall and swept the audience of its feet with their enthusiasm, skill and sheer musicianship.

This year’s concert will take place on Advent Sunday, 28 November, at 15.30h in the church of St. Matthieu, 97 boulevard d’Anvers, Strasbourg.  Entrance is free but donations are requested to help combat the terrible famine ravaging southern Madagascar at the present.  The Anglican Bishop Gilbert Rateloson Rakotondravelo of the Diocese of Fianarantsoa in the Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean warns that at least one million people may be at risk.

“The situation south of the country is not good. Out of our 22 regions, it has been hit the hardest. Some crops have also been destroyed by bandits,” he says, noting that while people want to farm their lands, there is no rain.  Within his own diocese, which was founded in 2003, Rakotondravelo says reports continue streaming in of high malnutrition.  “The situation has worsened since March 2021, especially for our women and children. We need short-, medium-, and long-term interventions,” he says.

https://livingchurch.org/2021/10/26/bishop-cites-indescribable-suffering-in-madagascar-famine/?utm_source=The+Living+Church+Email+Updates&utm_campaign=b189123c98-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_08_26_11_12_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0826f52b83-b189123c98-128519789

All are welcome to this concert; in the interval mulled wine and Bredele will be available and there will also be a miniature Marché de Noel to celebrate the start of the Advent season.

N’oublier pas SVP votre Passe Sanitaire !      Please don’t forget your Covid Pass !

                                                        Let us give with generous hearts – Donnons de coeurs généreux!

 

 

 

Tuesday Prayers

During the interminable months of lockdown in 2020 we all discovered online meeting programmes such as Zoom as a way of continuing to worship together.  We  discovered that this technology also made it possible for people who were far away from each other to stay in touch.  Apart from the weekly Zoom Sunday service the Tuesday prayer meeting (which had originally been held in the Chaplaincy flat) became a regular Zoom feature.

For over a year now St. Alban’s has been able to come together physically at the Dominicans’ church for Sunday worship, and that is a great joy.  Now, after a summer break,  we are resuming the online Tuesday Prayers on Zoom – recognising that it is easier for most people to participate online rather than have to travel into Strasbourg.  In this way we can share our prayers, our hopes and concerns with one another between Sunday services.

On Tuesdays at 18.30h we follow the pattern of Evening Prayer, listen to a short reflection on the main reading and pray with and for one another.  It lasts about 45 minutes; for details of the Zoom link please contact Fr. Mark at: anglican.chaplaincy.strasbourg@gmail.com

 

 

Le Kéré à Madagascar Famine in Madagascar

” Si ton frère devient pauvre, et que sa main fléchisse près de toi, tu le soutiendras.” Levitique 25:35a

Madagascar est le premier pays au monde à connaître la faim à cause du réchauffement climatique. Plus d’un million des gens du Sud Ouest du pays ont faim dont la moitié sont des enfants qui souffrent de la malnutrition. A cause de la sécheresse, rien ne pousse, sauf les cactus qui leur servent d’aliments ou ils mangent de peau de zébus. Dans ces conditions, la mortalité infantile croît exponentiellement.

C’est une tragédie qui mobilise des organisations internationales, des différentes communautés religieuses et laïques, des personnes sensibles au devenir de cette population.

Nous aussi à St Alban’s, très touchés de la situation, nous faisons appel à votre générosité en envoyant vos dons sur le compte bancaire de l’ ACAS, ci dessous.

Association Caritative Anglicane de Strasbourg

IBAN: FR76 1027 8010 8800 0202 3490 172     BIC: CMCIFR2A

Ces dons sont gérés par la suite par une association de l’Anglican Church St Mark de Versailles en France, qui œuvrent dans la région du kéré, diocèse épiscopalien du Sud de Madagascar.

La population du sud vous remercie de tous vos dons. Que Dieu le Père tout puissant vous bénisse !

” Partage ton pain à celui qui a faim…” Esaie 58:7

https://mobile.francetvinfo.fr/monde/afrique/madagascar/secheresse-a-madagascar-les-terres-du-sud-ne-permettent-plus-de-nourrir-les-villages_4780041.html#xtref=android-app://com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox/

 

FAMINE IN MADAGASCAR

“If any of your kin fall into difficulty and become dependent on you, you shall support them.”

Leviticus 25:35a

Madagascar is the first country in the world to suffer famine as a result of climate change. Over a million people in southwest Madagascar are suffering from hunger, half of them children who are severely malnourished. Several years’ drought mean that nothing can grow except for cacti. These and the skin of zebu cattle are the only food available. Under these conditions, infant mortality is increasing exponentially.

This tragedy has mobilised international aid organisations, religious and lay communities and all those concerned about the future of this population. We too at St. Alban’s, with our long-established personal links to the Malgache community in Strasbourg, are very much affected by the situation and appeal to your generosity in making donations to the Association Caritative Anglicane de Strasbourg:

IBAN: FR76 1027 8010 8800 0202 3490 172     BIC: CMCIFR2A

These donations will be managed by the charitable association of St. Mark’s Anglican Church Versailles, which has links to the Episcopalian diocese of Southern Madagascar already working in the famine region.

The people of the South thank you for all your donations. May the all-powerful God bless you!

“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry … ”  Isiaiah 58:7

https://mobile.francetvinfo.fr/monde/afrique/madagascar/secheresse-a-madagascar-les-terres-du-sud-ne-permettent-plus-de-nourrir-les-villages_4780041.html#xtref=android-app://com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox/

 

 

 

 

 

 

That Spring feeling in September

The Rentrée this year felt a bit like the end of a long winter’s hibernation; a great surge of energy and joy at seeing faces long missed and resuming some of our most cherished customs.

Our Reader David Cowley, whose guitar-playing in particular we had missed while he was recuperating from a major operation, was back in church again to accompany Sunday’s All Age Worship.

David Cowley playing during Communion

We were able to welcome the children and their teachers back to a new Sunday School year, and celebrated that with a blessing of the school bags.

Children and Sunday School teachers are   blessed

And not to forget the Coffee after Church – again, a custom long and sorely missed.  For the first time since Covid restrictions were imposed we were able to meet together in the Centre Mounier for coffee and a chance to catch up with old friends and get to know visitors and new members of the church.  Out of “hibernation” came Frederick William-Smith, at 92 the oldest member of St. Alban’s – and so we were able to celebrate the Rentrée of two former invalids as well!

Frederick with wife Maryline and David      Cowley

Faith in a Conflicted World

 

Archbishop Justin Welby

Faith in a Conflicted World is a 5-part mini-film series from Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury.  He believes that reconciliation is the call on every human being.  To reconcile means to become friendly with someone after estrangement,  to settle a quarrel or difference. It also can mean making two apparently conflicting things compatible or consistent with each other.  Justin Welby’s programme is called “Difference” and is about building bridges in a time when opinions and politics are becoming more and more polarised.

This is a good video to watch to find out more:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piNdJ9PKzLE

St. Alban’s has set up an online discussion group to watch the five-part mini-film series together and then reflect upon each film’s implications for ourselves and our church life.  The next sessions are on

Sunday 27th June, 19.00h    Disagreeing Well

We can have good relationships even when we disagree – in fact, relationships are strengthened when we are able to negotiate conflict well.

  Wednesday 30th June, 19.00h

Sunday 4th July, 19.00h

All are welcome to join; to receive the appropriate Zoom link please contact Fr. Mark Barwick, email  anglican.chaplaincy.strasbourg@gmail.com

On Youtube one can also watch the recordings of a webinar series called Difference which is part of the programme of  Faith in a Conflicted World: here is the introductory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1hai2ZLtm4

 

Ascension Day L’Ascension

Thursday 13 May is Ascension!  It is not just a day off work – it is a major feast of the Church, when Christians celebrate Christ’s entrance into glory to be forever with the Father. At that time, he told his disciples to remain in Jerusalem and to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit that the Father had promised. The period between the Ascension and Pentecost has long been an occasion for Christians to pray especially for the fresh outpouring of the Spirit in their day.
L’Ascension – jeudi le 13 mai – n’est pas seulement un jour férié – c’est une fête majeure de l’Eglise, où les chrétiens célèbrent l’entrée du Christ dans la gloire pour être pour toujours avec le Père. A ce moment, il a dit à ses disciples de rester à Jérusalem et d’attendre le don du Saint-Esprit que le Père avait promis. Depuis très longtemps, la période entre l’Ascension et la Pentecôte est une occasion pour l’Eglise de prier spécialement pour le renouvellement de l’Esprit à leur époque.
Join us on Zoom for Morning Prayer at 10h30 on Thursday. To receive the link contact Mark at:
anglican.chaplaincy.strasbourg@gmail.com.

Rejoignez-nous jeudi sur Zoom pour l’office de la prière du matin à 10.30h. Pour le link contactez Mark sur:

anglican.chaplaincy.strasbourg@gmail.com.

 

 

 

Pentecost La Pentecôte

We are encouraged to wear RED on the Day of Pentecost – this year the 23rd of May – to symbolise the joy and fire of the Holy Spirit. Choral music from various countries represented at St Alban’s
will be offered in the service that day.

Nous portons le ROUGE le jour de la Pentecôte – cette année le 23 mai – pour symboliser la joie et le feu du Saint-Esprit. La musique chorale de divers pays représentés à St Alban’s sera offerte pendant le service ce jour-là.

 

Outlook: St. Alban’s in 2021.

At St. Alban’s Annual General Meeting, held as an online Zoom meeting on Sunday 21 March, our priest Mark Barwick presented his report on the life of the church in 2020. As well as mentioning the activities that did actually take place in spite of Covid restrictions, and reminding us of all those that didn’t, he outlined some specific areas on which he thought St. Alban’s should concentrate in the coming year:

Post-Covid (?) Rebuilding and Spiritual Development

  • –  Areas of Diocesan concern:
  •  – the Environment, piloted by St Alban’s Environmental Committee;
  •  – Living in Love and Faith, concerning matters of human sexuality, relationships and identity;
  •  – Diversity and Race.
  •  – Stewardship and Sustainability Review.
  • Read Mark’s report here to find out more.